Motivated by a Curse
by Speed Ke'Dai
Summary: " What! How did she use such an advanced kawarimi! Damn, now what is she doing! " Sakura wrapped her hands around Orochimaru's head tightly and winced as his teeth dug in further. " Fan girl strength pedo-hebi! " shouted Inner Sakura who was quickly hushed by a mental cry. " S-Sasuke-kun! A-ttack now!" Rated M for Language & possible lemons later on.
1. Take The Chance!

A/N: An idea that wandered around my head for a bit. Honestly, Sakura isn't one of my liked/tolerated characters. She really makes me realize the phrase _" You don't know what you've had until it's gone" _ya know?  
Petty hatred aside, let's see if I'll be able to convince myself that maybe if something gave Sakura a HARD KICK IN THE ASS she would've been a lot more useful or serious. Hope you all will enjoy this as much as I've had thinking about it! Maybe I'll even have a few art pieces to go with the story as it goes along!

On with the show!

* * *

The difference in power between the two combatants were as clear as blue sky. This kusa kunoichi was clearly still toying with the remaining male fighter of Team Seven, Uchiha Sasuke. But she will regret doing that now. The disadvantage of being overpowered can now give Sasuke the upper hand.

" _I've only got one shot at this _" Sasuke thought as he quickly swiped his hands across his body, dragging out what hidden weapons he had on his body. His right hand held four kunais between his fingers with a fifth between his teeth and his left holds a slowly spinning windmill shuriken. With a mighty jump he launched himself from the branch and unleashed the weapons within his right hand. The kunoichi swiftly dodged the kunai in a snake-like manner as Sasuke swung around a tree and launched the windmill shuriken in his left hand.

" _Anticipating where I will move next and aiming for a critical hit. Not bad. _" she thought as she jumped over the windmill shuriken and shifted her upper body to avoid the chakra enhanced kunai Sasuke had thrown shortly after.

" _So young and he can see so well! Wait, isn't this..._ " her observation was too late as the windmill shuriken came whizzing back towards her head. " _Sofuushasen no Itachi! _(Triple Windmill Blade) "

From Sakura's point of view the following head jerk of the kusa-nin was all she needed to shout! But then the kunoichi slowly turned her head to reveal the windmill shuriken between her teeth.

" _Reading all the places I could run and attack from where I cannot see..._" She could honestly agree as to why Sasuke was the rookie of the year.

"My my, so close." she said as she saw a smirk appear at the corner of Sasuke's mouth.

" **Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu! **" the wire caught in Sasuke's mouth conducted a burning red flame as it blazed towards the kunoichi's head! The scream that followed was surprisingly pleasant to Sasuke and Sakura's ears. Sasuke released the jutsu, trying to catch his breath as the kunoichi's head dropped and sizzled but she still stood.

" Your ability to wield the Sharingan at such a young age...You truly are the man that carries the blood of the Uchiha." the deep tone of a man suddenly came from what was thought to be a kunoichi.  
He lifted up his head, and to Team Seven's surprise it appeared to be that the face of the woman was a mask. The fire technique had badly burned it and charred off bits and pieces over the mans left eye. The opening revealed menacing yellow eyes that glare at them. The shape of his eye was surrounded by purple make-up and was a complete contrast to his very pale and nearly white skin.

"Just as I expected...I want you, Sasuke Uchiha." his hand slowly made it way to his forehead.

"_**It's that paralysis again! Avert his gaze!**_" Inner Sakura shouted to herself as Sakura quickly focused onto the mans collar bone.

" _**He didn't notice...stay still and play the emotion.**_" She couldn't believe her brain was creating a game plan for her to act on now all of a sudden. She may be the weakest of the squad, but she could at least do something! She quickly glanced to the left of her to see Sasuke paralyzed with fear. Damn, he didn't see it coming...

"It was such a fun time testing your powers Sasuke. You two truly are brothers, but there's a power in your eye's that certainly surpasses Itachi's." Sasuke's body jerked at the mention of his brothers name! If he wasn't so stunned he would've charged at the mysterious man.

" Just who the hell are you?"

" I am Orochimaru. And if you want to see me again, survive and pass this exam..." the team's scroll that the man known as Orochimaru took from Naruto's pouch now rested in his palm, slowly being charred by a burst of flame.

"But first, you must defeat my pair of genin, The Sound Trio, before any of that can happen."

"Like hell we'd want to see your face again!" the pink hair girl said. Her sudden anger seemed to make her shake less...odd, but that doesn't matter. She stayed out of the entire fight, there is nothing she could do. Orochimaru brought up his hands into one of his personal variants of the tiger seal in order to begin his juinjutsu.

" Hehe, I wouldn't be so sure..." Suddenly the pale mans neck stretched in an inhumane fashion and darted towards them. Suddenly, time seemed to stop as Sakura was quickly pulled into her mind by her inner persona.

" _**He wants Sasuke! Now's our chance! Whats the plan? **_"

" I-I don't know. I don't know anything other than basic academy jutsu's!"

" _**Have...Have we really been sitting back and letting Naruto-san and Sasuke-kun do all the work? **_" Sakura would've felt even more ashamed if it were anyone else asking that question. At least it will remain in the confines of her mind.

" Wait, Naruto-_san_?"

" _**Oh did you really think I wouldn't give him a bit of credit for standing up to this mysterious nin without a doubt? You really don't know yourself, Sotogawa-chan**_" Inner Sakura said with a victorious grin as he counterpart blushed.

" W-Whatever, I've got an idea." Sakura boasted as Inner Sakura quickly stood up straight as the thought ran through her.

" _**A kawarimi **_(Substitution) _**sounds good, but how will you switch out Sasuke for wood. I'm sure Orochimaru will be able to identify the wood immediately and switch targets...Unless**_-" Inner Sakura was shocked at what her outer shell was thinking. It was crazy indeed, but it might give them another chance.

"Let's just hope we can handle the pain." Sakura said to herself as she stretched out her hand.

" _**Let's indeed Soto-chan! I'll do my best blocking your pain receptors!**_" Inner Sakura gripped her counterparts hand with an unknown strength and shook it. And just like that reality started to pick back up again as Sakura's eyes became glued to Orochimaru's flying, bare-fanged head. Her hands swiftly went through the motions for the kawarimi.

" _**Add more chakra! You're dealing with a living object! **_" and with that bit of knowledge she repeated the first set of hand signs at a slower pace.

Orochimaru was closing in on his terrified target. Oh how wonderful it will be when this is all over.

" _The mighty sharingan will be mine! _" As his head neared Sasuke's neck, he saw the girl stretch her arm out to him and shout. Whatever it was wasn't as important as this moment. Orochimaru sunk his elongated snake-like canines into Sasuke's neck!

" _Hahaha! Yes! My plan is-_" Why was Sasuke's skin pillow soft and smelled of cherry blossoms all of a sudden? The snake sennin's eyes moved to see his victim to be the pink haird girl!

" _What? How did she use such and advance kawarimi? Damn, now what is she doing! _" Sakura wrapped her hands around Orochimaru's head tightly and winced as his teeth dug in further.

" _**Fan girl strength pedo-hebi! **_" shouted Inner Sakura who was quickly hushed by a mental cry.

" S-Sasuke-kun! A-ttack now!" she strained out as Orochimaru wrestled for his head to be free.

When the hell did Sakura turn into this? Was Naruto's little showcase so inspiring that she grew a fine pair as well? You know what pair I'm talkin' about too! No matter, she's finally putting that brain of hers to use. There was no way he would be able to lesson the damage of an attack or even dodge. Sasuke was surprised to see that the switch had gotten his body out of the man's paralysis.

"Hang on Sakura, This'll finish it!" This time, he won't restrain his dragon flame jutsu. Sasuke began to work through the handseals with renewed speed and vigor as he inhaled deeply.

" **Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu! **" and with that very cry, the enhanced fire technique politely took the shape of said animal and charged at Orochimaru's still body.

This girl, Sakura, was smart. Interestingly smart and very daring for such a normal genin who's only real redeeming trait was that she was good on paper, but not practical. But Orochimaru wasn't known as the snake sennin for a reason. The nerves in his neck were stretched out, making reactions with his body during this juinjutsu slower but not impossible.

_" You will pay for this little girl. You wanted to save Sasuke from this, so you shall die by it. __**Omoi no Juin.**_ (Seal of Mind, will explain in the End Note)" He injected his chakra into her system and activated his jutsu. There will be no need for the persuasive parts of this seal, she would be dead as soon as he marked Sasuke and left. Sakura placed all of her attention on restraining the snake sannin's head to realize the invasion in her chakra system, but her inner mind did.

"_**S-Soto-chan! **_" Inner Sakura's slight distraction had cost her dearly as the waves of pain she was trying her hardest to prevent through now washed over her like a raging tsunami into Sakura's head. Sakura's scream of pain nearly broke Sasuke's concentration, but this is what she did this for; to take down this freak of a ninja.

" _I'm sorry, Sakura._" the flaming dragon neared it's target as Sasuke saw the body slightly wobble and narrowly dodge the attack with a jump. Orochimaru withdrew his neck mid-jump and spun around a branch before perching himself on it.

"_ No! Sakura's sacrifice will not be in vain! _" Now was not the time to be experimenting, but Sasuke was running low on chakra and he couldn't afford to be picky. " _Rock Lee, let's see what you can do for me._" Sasuke's sharingan began to spin and with a sudden rise of dust, he was gone.

" My my Sasuke-kun, your friends sacrifice themselves for you and you run awa-" suddenly he felt Sasuke's chakra underneath him.

"Shut up!" Sasuke interrupted Orochimaru's verbal jab with a swift and hard kick to his jaw sending him rocketing skywards. He flexed his upper body forwards to crouch on all fours and jumped after Orochimaru with another cloud of dust. As Orochimaru reached the peak of his unintentional flight, he once again found Sasuke behind him.

" _Kage Buyou? _(Shadow of the Dancing Leaf) _Can he open the gates? _" a palm to his back and a spin to the left denied that theory as Sasuke's leg followed with a wild swing which the snake sannin easily blocked.

"Too easy Sasuke-ku-" Orochimaru was cut off by Sasuke's right hand slamming into his throat from the other side that adjusted his course back onto the tree. It was then quickly followed by another whirling punch into his stomach that sent him further down. And before he hit the ground the only thing he was able to see was Sasuke's heel flying swiftly into his abdomen as he smashed into the branch! Sasuke was able to rebound off of the last hit and jumped onto another branch. He was really tired now. He had no idea how Rock Lee was able to perform that launching kick and follow-up with the Kage Buyou and still seemed ready to dish out more punishment.

"_ That should do it...I can grab Naruto and Sakura and make a run for it. _" he thought as he glanced at Naruto's unconscious form Sakura had pinned to the tree during his fall. Then he looked over to Sakura's body lying terribly still on he large branch they both had previously occupied. He crouched down to make the jump over to Sakura but something grabbed his arm.

" Interesting move Sasuke, but no more games. You **will**be marked!" How the hell was he coming out of the tree?

" _Wasn't he..._" Sasuke quickly looked over to where he thought he had laid out Orochimaru to see a pile of mud. Sasuke was powerless to stop the sannin from biting into his neck and doing what he did to Sakura.

"You will seek me out to gain more of my power Sasuke. Only I can help you obtain your dream" Orochimaru said as the Ten no Juin (Seal of Heaven) appeared on Sasuke's neck.

"Uhg! What did you do to me!" Sasuke grabbed at his neck and screamed.

"Enjoy my parting gift Sasuke-kun. Until next time." and with that, Orochimaru vanished into the trees. He could feel his old apprentice nearing, she doesn't need to know about this just yet.

Words could not begin to describe the amount of pain that man had just inflicted upon Sasuke. It was as if something was trying to tear itself out of his body. With one pain-induced punch to the branch beneath him and a blood curdling cry, Sasuke welcomed unconsciousness.

Silence fell onto the forest of death as the members of Team Seven remained dead to the world.

A curtain of pink rose up and surveyed the area...

* * *

Night had quickly fallen after Orochimaru's skirmish with Team Seven. It had been rough due to her sore muscles but she managed to drag her teammates to a tree that had been hollowed out underneath and rested there. Luckily, very little medicinal work was needed. Naruto only required a few bandages and Sasuke had a few bruises on his chest and stomach, much to her delight.

But she wasn't as excited as she thought she would've been when she lifted up Sasuke's shirt. That mark on his neck...it was in the same place as hers...but her mark had three ' L ' shaped hooks. She grabbed a small mirror out of her pouch and looked at the spot on her neck through it. Her hands thoroughly rubbed at it, hoping for it to rub off. She sighed when it didn't but after the fifth time what should she expect?  
Sasuke's moaning alerted her as she quickly placed the mirror onto the ground and reached for her water container.

" _He's been having a high fever ever since... _" she strained the warm water out of the towel and added some more from her container before she placed it back onto his head. She placed the back of her hand to her neck.

" _So am I?...Soto-chan? _" Sakura thought as she entered her owned mind. There she lay, the Sakura that was supposed to be out in the world. Shifting periodically onto her sides trying to ease her pain. After Orochimaru had branded her she's been unconscious since and Inner Sakura suddenly woke up in control of her body.  
Her mind returned to reality as she quickly grabbed another towel to place onto her forehead. She sighed in contentment as she laid against one of the trees large roots and picked up her mirror, she still couldn't believe what had happened the first time she looked into the mirror. Her eyes. Those large emerald green eyes were now an odd reddish pink...

"I hope this isn't permanent..." she brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head which immediately jerked back up. Someone or a squad has entered her field of chakra. She herself still couldn't thoroughly explain where the sudden boost had come from but she was able to expend it in ways she previously thought she couldn't! Her scouting range wasn't exactly good being her first try, but she could at least go out 12 meters with her control.

" _They're within maybe 3 meters of my traps. _" She isn't as nearly as accurate as any other tracker nin who has been training their ability since discovery. The intruders hadn't made a single move since they entered...they were watching her.

Tsuchi Kin, Abumi Zaku and squad leader Kinuta Dosu sat outside of Team Seven's current campsite.

" Hmm, so that's Sasuke" Kin said

" So what do ya say we just take him out now?" Zaku said rubbing his hands together with a slight metallic clanging.

" We'll attack at morning. But if the others get in the way, they're free game." Dosu gave the order as Zaku and Kin nodded and they vanished. Sakura released a breath she didn't know she had held and draped the kunai between her fingers. A throb of pain made her drop the kunai and quickly placed her hand over the seal to try and somewhat soothe the pain.

" _Damn, this is more trouble than it was worth!_" True enough. If Sasuke's attack had killed Orochimaru she wouldn't have minded bearing a mark of victory. But then again it would remind her that she didn't do squat until the end. Sakura gritted her teeth as the pain died down with a small outburst of purple chakra. She grabbed some bandages and wrapped them around her neck to cover the seal.

"I'll make you pay for this Orochimaru...for Sotogawa too!" she said to no one in particular as she closed her eyes and returned to her position against the tree. Resting her eyes and mind, with her chakra alert to the world.

**Hours Later **

She was pissed! Damn seal kept eating at her all night! It was hard enough not going to sleep already eighty percent there. Well, at best the seal made sure she didn't go to sleep. At all.  
A ray of light caressed her face as she looked through the openings of the roots.

" Morning already." she sighed. Her fever went away but Sasuke's remained.

" _Guess you were able to hold out a bit longer before he got you...I'm glad I was somewhat useful to you Sasuke-kun. _" she smiled to herself. That smiled quickly turned into a scowl as the familiar chakra signatures from last night returned.

" Great. Just great" Sakura said as she caressed her seal through the bandages. She silently grabbed a kunai and waited patiently for the moment to strike. Within the dead silence, a squirrel made it's way into her team's little place of refuge.

"Sorry, but get out!" She threw a kunai at it with no remorse as it scurried back outside of the hole, then she threw another to redirect it from one of her traps. If she wasn't so cranky maybe she would've care but she couldn't afford that right now.

"_ Ah! Here they come... _" the Sound Trio finally left their hiding spot. She remained still as they landed just a meter away from her first trap.

" Looks like someone didn't catch much rest last night" That comment made her want to punch whoever said it in the teeth. She slowly turned her head and glared at the trio.

" _It's them. The one's from the new village, Otogakure! _" she would definitely remember the mummified man. The way he managed to attack Kabuto was still mysterious.

"No matter. Wake up Sasuke-kun. We want to fight him" Dosu said as his head shifted to the side in a crazy manner.

" Sorry. Sasuke won't be awake for a few more hours. I thought the people who gave him the weird mark would realize that." Sakura said rubbing her neck once again. This reminded her of that lazy guy on Ino's team, Nara Shikamaru.

"Maybe you guys can tell me why someone like Orochimaru is here for the chunnin exams?" Sakura said as she partially turned around to have a better view of the teams position. The shock that was plastered over their faces was also a sight to behold!

" _What could that man be planning..._" Dosu thought as he felt Zaku stir.

"You know that much already. We can't afford to let you go. I'll kill you, and then Sasuke's next." Sakura glared angrily and Zaku but remained still.

"Be patient Zaku." Dosu said as he took a step forward and inspected the ground.

"A recently overturned rock...different colored dirt...grass shouldn't grow here" Dosu lifted up the top layer of Sakura's contraption. Shit, that's one trap out.

"So that's why she used that second kunai to redirect that squirrel" Zaku said perched up in the tree to Dosu's right. Dosu leaned his head in the other direction to his left and gave the order.

" Kill her. "

The Sound Trio leapt towards Sakura. Whom could only smirk as she cut a strand of ninja wire that swung loose a large log!

"Another trap from above! Damn!" The log was about to slam into the Oto-nins until it exploded in the middle, letting them through.

"As if that would work..." Dosu said in a bored manner.

" _Just a bit closer... _"

"A weak and talentless girl like you shouldn't mess with guys like us. People like you don't get far without hard work."

"If you guys are talented them I'm content with where I'm at!" Sakura said as she cut another line. Logs shot up out of the ground towards the sound team.

"Really? More logs?" Zaku said, then he heard a sizzling sound getting louder and louder as the logs made their way!

" Shit! **Zankuuha! **(Air Cutter)" A blast of air flew out of his hands and collided with the logs as they exploded. The shock wave managed to send the sound team back into Sakura's trap Dosu had unearthed earlier! Luckily Kin had managed to strap enough ninja wire to the tree Zaku had sat on to pull them over the hole.

"Okay. You're clever. I'll give you that" Dosu said as he dusted himself off.

" _Damn! Another trap wasted! Well, all that's left now is to figure out what that girl can do..._" Sakura thought through clenched teeth as a blur of green appeared before her.

"If it weren't for your team mates jutsu you all would have been finished. I think Sakura-san clearly outsmarted you." the green clad teenager stood as he got into his favorite fighting stance. His right arm stretched out and slightly bent with his palm facing the sky and the other rested firmly behind his back.

" _Wait! That's..._" Sakura thought happily at the thought of back-up!

"Who the hell are you?" Dosu stared at the newcomer.

"The Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!"

Dosu could only glare at the boy as Zaku and Kin corrected themselves. The explosive tags got to them more than Dosu, so now they stood with a small shake.

"It's good to see you. But why are you here?" Sakura questioned as she eyed Lee's form.  
" _I wonder if I can learn that taijutsu style...without getting the green spandex!_" she shivered slightly at that thought and Lee's statement brought her out of that frightening day dream.

"I will always appear when you are in trouble." Sakura blushed lightly. The boy truly meant that?

"Hehe, well thank you. You've saved me the trouble of having to go three against one!" she got up and rolled her neck, messaging the spot under her bandages as another outburst of chakra made it's way out with a small throb of pain that died quickly.

"Are you sure you can fight Sakura-san?"

"Oh I've been waiting to get at these knuckleheads since last night!" Another outburst of chakra...

"Che! Zaku, you can have Sasuke-kun. I'll take care of these two!" Dosu tossed the Earth scroll back to Zaku and charged at Lee and Sakura.

" _Thick 'brow looks like he knows his taijutsu...This should be fun._" Dosu easily avoided the kunai Sakura had threw his way with a jump and was prepared to strike Lee who suddenly reached into the ground and yanked out enough of the tree's root to block Dosu's attack.

" _Damn! Lee's really strong!_" was the thought that ran through Sakura's head as she saw Lee perform such a task with little effort.

"I've seen your attack before. There is no simple way to dodge such a trick." Lee said as Dosu backed away from the unearthed root.

"In order to protect Sakura-san I have no choice...but to crush you all at full power."

* * *

Nara Shikamaru was in the middle of Ino's 'Sasuke is the best EVER ' seminar after he told her that the only weak team besides them that they hoped to find was Team Seven.

"I mean yeah, Sakura and Naruto most likely suck but Sasuke's a genius!"

" Who knows. Even a genius can crack under the pressure of the real world" Shikamaru said as he folded his arms. Ino had sent him a look that said ' Reword that sentence or I will _fucking KILL YOU_' which he immediately recognized seeing a similar look on his mothers face on numerous occasions.

" Ok, ok! I'm sorry I upset you!" Shikamaru submitted with a nervous sweat drop. ' _Geez, say anything negative about Sasuke and she flips...'_

"Come on! There's no way Sasuke could lose. Sakura, yeah. But Sasuke? Nooo!"

"Hey check it out, Sasuke's knocked out cold!" the other self proclaimed ' chubby' teammate, Akimichi Choji pointed out. Ino turned around giving the same glare she recently gave Shikamaru to Choji, but then.

" And Sakura is fighting!" That shocked the hell out of Ino.

"What?"

* * *

" _Gai-sensei, I'm going to use THAT technique here!_" Rock Lee thought as he unwrapped some of the bandages around his arm. He crouched down and made a single handed seal, opening the first gate. Dosu was closing in on his target as he suddenly vanished!

"What? How?" Then in a flash he found himself being lifted into the air by a powerful thrusting kick from underneath him.

" _Lee's fight has got everyone's attention! Time for me to move!_" Sakura thought as she vanished in a burst of unknown speed. Zaku noticed Sakura's disappearance a bit too late.

"Shit! Does she know the same maneuver?" His eyes quickly scanned his surroundings. A pink flash appeared before Kin and planted both of her feet into her chest sending Kin rocketing back into a tree. Sakura quickly dashed after her as Zaku wondered who he assist first.

" _Tch! Kin got caught off guard! But Dosu can't defend himself like that!_" he performed a series of hand seals and pushed his hands into the dirt before blasting his Zankuuha towards the spinning pile-driver that was Rock Lee and Dosu! They crashed into the softened earth and Rock Lee bounded off of Dosu's body in a crouch, catching his breath. Surprised developed on Lee's face as Dosu pulled his head out of the ground!

"That's a real terrifying technique you've got there. Even this much damage on a sponge of dirt..." Dosu pulled the sleeve over his metal encased hand.

"My turn." Dosu charged at Lee once more and with Lee's current condition he would have no choice but to dodge the physical portion of Dosu's attack. Lee felt his entire world jolt as he dodged Dosu's punch.

" If your moves are at high speed..." Lee's vision began to swim " then ours are at sound speed. I'll show you a wall that no amount of hard work can surpass." Lee had to grab the ground in order to somewhat stabilize his perception of the world, which was then closely followed by him vomiting.

Sakura and Kin were currently trading blows with Sakura in the lead by one deer kick to the chest. Kin should be able to quickly overcome this simple seeming style but her opponent was just a bit faster than her so she had a better chance to recover. A loud cry from Lee distracted Sakura and that was all Kin needed as she grabbed Sakura's long hair and twisted it in her hands, bringing the girl down with a small cry of pain.

"Hahaha, don't tell me you were planning on becoming a sexy ninja?" Kin suddenly stiffened when Sakura no longer resisted to her hands in her hair but pulled strongly at it again to get a reaction, none came.

"...Let go of my hair"

"Heh. If you have time to treat your hair you have time to train. Girls like you give kunoichi a bad name!" Sakura gritted her teeth as she pulled out a kunai. The damn seal started throbbing again!

"Final warning! Let. The Hair. Go." Kin scoffed. " Like that'll do anything against me in this position."  
' _Sorry Soto-chan, she made me do it' _Sakura swiftly cut loose the bundle of hair that Kin had been holding onto like a security blanket. The sudden shift sent Kin off balance and Sakura took full advantage of that with a quick turn and jammed the kunai into Kin's stomach. Jagged lines began to spread over her the left side of her face and arm as Kin coughed up blood and fell onto the floor. Sakura stood over the girl, an aura of power flowing from her body as a dark green chakra with slivers of purple swirled around her as if it would lash out at anyone nearby.

" You wouldn't listen..."

* * *

E/N: And that's the end of Chapter 1 of my first Naruto story! Hope you liked it so far, I typed this all in one night! The color of Sakura's eyes is still a mystery to me so I may have to do a bit of testing to see what shall fit with the the current changes and the ones that may occur later.  
Now I know you're wondering why I gave the chakra of the seal a different color. Orochimaru gave her an incomplete seal. Let's just say that the manipulative portion of the seal determined to color of the chakra. If they user succumbed they will be blessed with Orochimaru's strong purple chakra. If they didn't yield, the chakra would hurt like a bitch to use until they did. But if the manipulations were never there, who can say what happens!

Oh! And that 'Deer Kick' Sakura used on Kin? Stinkmeaner Tom from The Boondocks. 'Nuff Said!

Also, longest chapter ever written! Over 5,000 words! Vhat Da Fack! coughcough _PSWG _coughcough

Now,  
**Omoi no Juin, Seal of Mind**– After doing a bit of research on what curse mark I should give Sakura I found out that Tayuya's mark was believe to be the Curse Mark of the Mind and that fits a lot better than using Kimimaro's seal, the Chi no Juin/ Seal of Earth even though it's the opposite of the Heaven Seal. I mean really, why would Orochimaru waste a good seal on something he thought would quickly die?

_Sotogawa -_Translates to 'Exterior'. So Inner Sakura has been referring to Regular Sakura as 'Exterior-chan'! And Sakura will no doubt refer to her as _Uchigawa_. Which if you cant translate by context clues means ' to use google '.

Please comment and review. I really want to know what people think about this story before I progress any further with it.

Stay safe you guys!

Sayonara!  
_~ Speed Ke'Dai_


	2. No More Games!

A/N: (Sept.29th Note) Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! I was working on both this and my Love Hina fanfic. Work about 4-5 out of 10 or more pages then get to the other one and do the same there. And I must say, so far even I'm captured by my own writing like I wouldn't know what was about to happen! It's a good feeling to be able to enjoy my own writing like that and makes me want to get busy!

Anyway! Let's see what will happen since Sakura's anger released the Cursed Seal of the Mind!

Note as of Dec.4th: I'm pretty sure my previous A/N was full of shit. _Pretty Sure~!_  
Haven't done a damn thing with my Love Hina fanfic's newest chapter. Honestly I think I'm more motivated to finish THIS than that...

* * *

Dosu was about to lash out at the fallen Lee once more with his sound wave attack but suddenly he felt an immense chakra similar to those of Orochimaru's elite squad, the Sound Four. He quickly turned around to see Sakura standing over Kin who frantically ran a dull green glowing hand over her stomach wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

" _O-Orochimaru gave her a curse mark?! What was he thinking!?_" Dosu was panicking. He was a witness to one of the Sound Four's 'training sessions' against those Orochimaru had used his experiments on and made all sorts of alterations to there body. That battle was completely one sided once Orochimaru told the four that they could use their seals as they saw fit. And this girl had that very same power!

With one chakra enhanced kick, Sakura sent Kin flying towards a tree and into the world of unconsciousness. She slowly rested her leg back onto the ground and looked at her hands.  
" _He...gave me power? Did he do the same to Sasuke-kun?... _" she clenched her fists and glared at the remaining sound members.

" _Sasuke-kun...Naruto-san...Lee-san...it's about time I protect you guys, so get a good view of my back for once..._"

Dosu could only look on in fear at the red-eyed girl standing before him and Zaku. Was this the real reason they were sent here? Zaku's laughter brought him out of his stupor.

" Hahah! You must take me for an idiot to believe that that power is yours! Pretty nice genjutsu you've got there. Screw it Dosu, I'm just gonna blast all of e'm at once!" Zaku said as he pointed his palms towards Team Seven and gathered a large amount of chakra into his arms.

"Zaku you fool!"

* * *

Ino just stared in shock and awe. Not only did she witness Sakura get the drop on that sound kunoichi, she also cut her hair!

Haruno Sakura, slashed her own hair! The only reason Sakura grew out her hair was to impress Sasuke when they heard that he liked girls with long hair. And in all honesty, that didn't seem to effect Sasuke at all. Who did start that rumor anyway?

Naruto let out a pained chuckle and a smile in his sleep.

But looking back on that rumor brought Ino's memories to when Sakura declared her as her rival. Ino realized that at this moment, Sakura has taken her kunoichi status extremely serious. With the sudden outburst of power, Ino knew that the difference between her and Sakura was now a threatening matter. Ino originally thought that she outclassed Sakura with her clan techniques, but then this happened. She can even recall when Sakura was just a little girl, crying about being picked on because of the huge forehead she hid behind that mane of hair. Ino was the one who helped Sakura out of her childish depression and brought her into her circle of friends.

" _She may be even stronger than those two left... _" Ino gritted her teeth. Dammit! When did Sakura get so strong?! Ino glanced at Naruto and Sasuke still lying underneath the hollowed tree.

" Shikamaru, Choji, let's get Naruto and Sasuke-kun out of there. Something big is about to happen." Ino said as Shikamaru and Choji nodded and followed her around the danger zone.

* * *

" **Zankuukyoukuha! **(Ultimate Air Cutter) " Zaku blasted his upgraded technique at Sakura and her teammates with an enormous cloud of debris following quickly after. The sheer force behind the attack even sent Dosu and the unconscious Kin flying and shattered the large tree Sasuke and Naruto were underneath into numerous chunks! When the dust cleared the entirety of Team Seven was gone.

" Ha! Fuckin' blew e'm away!" Zaku smiled to himself with a bead of sweat and a tired sigh.

" Bet you wish you actually did." She was behind him?! Zaku quickly turned around only to have an almighty back hand send him skidding across the ground.

" _Damn she's fast! But she had to sacrifice her team to escape that._" Dosu stiffened as his body suddenly decided to have a seat on the ground. His arms propped up on his knees and hands tucked smoothly underneath his chin.

"What the?! " His eyes shifted down to see a long streak of black mending with his shadow and leading far into the bushes behind him.

"**Kage Mane no Jutsu **(Shadow Imitation Technique)**:**Success..." a demotivated voice said as Dosu involuntarily rolled his neck.

" We've got everything under control over here Sakura. Kick that guys ass! " Sakura could only smile at that voice, it was Ino. Her team had already moved Naruto and Sasuke shortly after she had sent Kin packing. The Yamanaka's ability to relay a message through a mental link was truly an amazing jutsu.

" _I guess you've been growing as well, Ino._" The small smile quickly disappeared as Sakura returned her attention to Zaku.

"If those are the only jutsu you know then this will be over in a second." She launched a flurry of kunai and shuriken at Zaku who gritted his teeth.

"You won't get lucky again! **Zankuuha**! " He blasted the shuriken back towards her only to see them faze through. Zaku became aware of her presence below him and sent out another blast only for her to disappear again. A pair of hands made it's way around his left arm and a bump to his hips lifted him up from behind and tossed him over Sakura's shoulder. The following blow to his nose had Zaku holding his face in pain, obscuring his vision.  
When he moved his hands he was greeted with Sakura bringing her foot down in a heel drop onto his chest. The pain was too much for Zaku as he coughed up spittle and blood before he passed out.

Sakura stood up straight from her maneuver, the jagged lines now completely covering her face and the left side of her body. She turned her heads towards Dosu who could only look on in fear as he was still trapped inside Shikamaru's **Kage Mane no Jutsu.**

" You have two options. " Only Dosu's eye managed to portray that he was all ears.

" Give me your scroll and you can take your team out of here or the sleeping Sound Trio will be dealt with by the inhabitants of this forest."

"I'll take option one with gusto." Dosu really didn't care how cowardly he sounded. He knew when he was outmatched. And to think that she wasn't even their target in the first place. Dosu felt the jutsu fade from his body as he regained control. He positioned his gauntlet above his head as his other hand dug into his pouch to receive the scroll and rolled it towards Sakura's feet. Sakura secured the scroll as Dosu strolled over to his teammates, double checking Kin's wounds before lifting her and Zaku onto his shoulders. He began to walk off but stopped when he heard Sakura call out to him.

"Wait...Who is Orochimaru? And why did he do this to me and Sasuke-kun?" Dosu shrugged as much as he could with his team on his shoulders.

" I don't know...We were just ordered to kill Sasuke-kun." Dosu said. " _But going on ahead and not doing the deed yourself but instead, giving these two the Cursed Mark...What are you planning Orochimaru? _" Sakura nodded, displeased with the answer but she'd let him go. Dosu nodded back as he continued on with his team and jumped into the trees.

A slight shift in the wind alerted Sakura to the incoming fist as her hand shot up and grabbed the wrist of the attacker, swiftly halting the attack. Sakura wanted to glare at her opponent but then she realized she was staring into blazing red Sharingan eyes!

Ino, Choji and Shikamaru didn't even notice when Sasuke moved from his position next to Naruto! He was easily quicker than this new Sakura and that also scared them combined with him attacking his own teammate.

"_ Wait...something's different about Sasuke-kun's chakra. It's totally different from his back at the academy. Is this the real Sasuke-kun? _" Ino thought.

" Sasuke! What the hell's the matter with you!? That's your own teammate who just saved your ass!" Shikamaru shouted from his position once he was able to cure his sudden case of dry tongue. Sasuke's eye's widen as the strength behind his attack weakened but the marks still remained on his body. Somewhat similar to Sakura's but they looked like a spreading flame. They only adorned the left side of his face and his left arm. Just like when Sakura first used it.

Sasuke looked at Sakura with as much as an apologetic look an Uchiha can muster.

"Sorry, Sakura. I thought we were still fighting that freak and I...I thought we had lost you." Sakura blushed at Sasuke's words and gave a tired smile. He wasn't referring to just him losing her but she'll take it.

"I'm just glad you and Naruto are okay Sasuke-kun." Both of their marks began to recede and Sakura's eye's returned to their glowing emerald green color. Sakura swayed slightly as she collapsed onto Sasuke.

" _So glad..._" She was no longer conscious.

"Oy! Sakura! Hey! Why are you guys just standing there?! Help her out!" Sasuke shouted in Team Ten's direction as Ino rushed to Sakura's aid. She was slightly jealous of the way Sasuke was looking at Sakura but she let it slide. It's not everyday that the person you thought was useless unleashes such hidden potential that could easily surpass most of your graduating class. Ino finished her look over of Sakura and came to a conclusion of chakra exhaustion. It was the most likely cause after such a display.

"She's probably just exhausted after this mess. We'll stay with you guys for a bit just in case. 'kay?" she said with a smile as Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks."

"You think we should kick him?" The odd sentence made both Sasuke and Ino turn their heads to see Shikamaru and Choji standing over Naruto with their hands under their chins in a thinking gesture. Sasuke gave a small smile with a ' hmph' and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Hey Naruto! Ichiraku's having a discount sale on all their ramen!" Safe to say, Naruto shot up like a rocket. He turned his head side to side quickly with drool leaking from his mouth and an extremely pleased look on his face. Then he realized where he was.

"Awwww! Dammit Sasuke-teme!" his hands gripped at his hair as he was easily tricked! Then he reallyremembered where they all were.

" Sasuke." His voice was low and coated with venom as Sasuke just waved him off.

" Don't make a bigger fool of yourself Dobe. He left a long time ago..." And with that Naruto nodded as his muscles relaxed. His eyes surveyed the damage done to the area, then shifted to Sakura's sleeping form on the ground next to Sasuke. He must have been out for a long time.

"Any of you guys wanna explain what happened here?" Naruto looked at Choji, then Shikamaru.

"Man...explaining anything to you would be a waste of my time." the Nara heir said to a displeased Naruto.

"Your pink haired teammate, Sakura, defended you two from the sound team with their help." A voice in the tree's alerted the group of genin. White eyes stared back down at them, the bloodline trait of a Hyuuga.

"Whaaat? Sakura-chan took care of the sound team?! I should've been awake to see that!" Naruto palmed his fist, just imaging what sort of kickass moves Sakura managed to pull off to take out an entire team. Despite the use of words, Neji nodded in agreement as he eyed the suspicious team.

"_Both the Uchiha and that girl displayed an abnormal chakra for just genin._" His eyes then focused on the orange clad boy. _" Will you be as special as your teammates?...This exam has gotten a bit more interesting..._" Neji turned his head slightly to his teammate,

"Think she'll give you a run for your money, Tenten?" The kunoichi could only smile at that statement. After that display Tenten wanted to eagerly jump into the fray and challenge the girl to see who was stronger.

" Maybe we'll spar one day just to find out." she said and jumped down beside Ino who was carrying Lee.

"I'll take it from here. HEY LEE! WAKE UP!" she shook Lee's unconscious figure until he woke up. Ino was slightly disturbed by the harsh treatment towards Lee. But they were his teammates, so they knew best she supposed.

"Huh? Tenten? Why are you here?" Lee finally stirred after having his brain rattled around.

"To get you, baka! Why'd you break from the plan and act alone? Now you're all beaten up." Tenten questioned Lee with an angry look as he sighed.

"Sakura-san was in trouble...And as a man I couldn't just ignore such a situation." Tenten clicked her tongue. She knew if Lee was alone he would've taken out those Oto Genin in a matter of minutes.

"You're such an idiot, Lee." Lee chuckled as he tucked his knees into his chest.

" Haha...Can't argue with you there. Did you and Neji deal with them in my absence?"

"Actually, that girl drove them off. Quite nicely may I add." she said with a small smile which shocked Lee.

" Sakura-san really did that?" Tenten nodded. " Then I need to work harder. If I had took the fight seriously from the start I would've been back by now and everything would've been fine." Lee said as he stood up with Tenten following him.

"Sasuke-kun. You are lucky to have such a caring and strong teammate such as Sakura-san, she was really devoted to protecting the both of you, and did just that. She achieved where I failed." Hearing that made Sasuke's eyes widen in shock.

" _Sakura went toe-to-toe with the sound team and he couldn't?! What really happened here? Did that man mark her as well?_" Lee glanced at Sakura with a smile, then his gaze hardened as he turned back to Sasuke.

" Cherry blossoms are only appreciated when they bloom, Sasuke-kun. Cherish this girl or I will take your place in her heart. That is a promise." Lee gave a stern look to Sasuke who only returned it.

* * *

**Two Days Later**

After recovering to full strength, the Konoha genins had went their separate ways. Now Team Seven sat near a river, a newly made fire roasting some fish that Naruto and Sasuke had caught. Sakura and Sasuke were drifting in their own thoughts, whilst Naruto drooled over the scent of the food.

" _Hehee, aim for the biggest one...There!" _he rubbed his hands together.

"This is the fourth afternoon since the start of the second test." Sasuke said, and Sakura nodded.

"It started around 2:30PM...We've only got maybe twenty-four to twenty-six hours left the most." she ran a hand through her shortened locks of hair.

" A lot of other teams could have passed already as well...damn this is really looking bad." Sasuke added as he looked over at the earth scroll in his hand.

The team ate in contemplating silence. Well, except Naruto. He was having a ball with that fish on a stick. Nearly complete with her meal, Sakura suddenly realized just how bad they had it.

"Guys...there may not be anymore heaven scrolls..." Sasuke and Naruto stopped mid-chew.

"What do you mean, Sakura?" Sasuke asked and Naruto slowly began to pick at his food again. Sakura sighed as she tossed the fish skeleton to the side.

" It's the fourth day. 80% of the test is already over." she paused and thought about the numbers of occupants taking the exam.

" 78 entrants equals 26 teams. And with 13 of each scroll, that only means only 13 teams could pass, right?" Sasuke nodded.

"...Orochimaru burned the heaven scroll we had..." Sasuke eyes darkened, he knew what Sakura was getting to.

" Wait wait! That freak burned our heaven scroll?!" Naruto said angrily as he ate.

"So now only 12 teams can pass." Sasuke said as Sakura nodded.

"We also can't be sure that the other scrolls are even intact. If one half was destroyed that makes the other useless." she finished as Sasuke placed the remains of the skewered fish down and stood up.

"We needed two days to heal our injuries since splitting up with the others...We're going to have to be a lot more active now." he opened his hands towards his teammates.

"Give me your canteens, I'll fetch us some water." Naruto and Sakura looked at Sasuke like he grew a second head. Since when did he offer to get things for them? Sasuke scoffed.

"Fine, I'll get enough for me then." he turned and began to walk off which made Sakura quickly grab her's and Naruto's canteens before catching up to Sasuke and handing them to him.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun. You just don't offer to do things a lot..." she blushed lightly as Sasuke smirked.

" Don't worry about it...but ask Naruto if he's alright." he said as Sakura's eyebrow rose in question.

"Why?" she asked until Sasuke shot a glance in the direction of her curse mark. Her eyes opened wide in shock and her hand shot up towards her bandaged neck.

"You don't think he did this to Naruto too, do you?"

" No, not like ours anyway. When he subdued Naruto he placed some sort of seal on his stomach." he said.

"Without knowing what it does, Naruto could become a liability if the seal suddenly activates during a fight. Give him a few tests until I get back." he added as he began to walk off until Sakura pulled him back, he turned his head to look at her annoyed expression.

"Really Sasuke...you want me to give Naruto a test?" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Just ask him to gather some chakra then. Maybe a run up and down a tree." Sakura nodded as they went their ways.

Sakura returned to her spot next to the fire as Naruto smiled at her.

" About time you got back!" he picked up the earth scroll at pointed it at her.

"There...is a way to get the scroll without fighting." Naruto gained Sakura's undivided attention.

"What? How?" Naruto grabbed his hip pouch and dug through it, pulling out numerous scrolls.

"Wait, do you plan on-"

"Yup!" Naruto said with a smile as he held another set of scrolls in his hands.

"I've got a bunch of scrolls, a poison manual, some ninjutsu manuals and even a few blank ones for taking notes. If we change one to look like the heaven scroll we'll be in the clear!" he smiled until Sakura scowled.

"Idiot, we don't know whats inside the heaven scroll! And once the examiner sees that we'll be caught!" she shouted as Naruto brought a hand under his chin.

"Hmmm, these things...usually have a password that you need two parts to understand. Yeah yeah yeah! To pass this test you've got to say a password when you make it to the tower!" Sakura could only palm her face to help calm the anger ever growing at Naruto's stupidity.

"So WHAT, Naruto?! We don't know what's in the scrolls! Making a fake is meaningless and too damn risky!" She can't believe that serious face he had on brought her hopes up.

"...But if we could find out what was in the scrolls..." Sakura faced Naruto again, staring at him in disbelief.

"No way...You wouldn't dare."

"If it means us passing, screw the rules! I'm gonna open this scroll!" Naruto said as he sweated. Cheating always made him feel a tad nervous, but he was sure Sakura would back him up with this! It's for their team to complete the test and move on. All of his confidence vanished when he felt the iron grip of death upon his hand that held the scroll, securing both his hand and the scroll shut. His gaze traveled to Sakura's hand and then looked into her eyes. Safe to say he wasn't prepared to stare into her eyes just yet.  
Sakura was obviously angry. Yeah, Naruto brings out the worst in her most of the time, but the color of her eyes were now a pinkish-red. And according to Naruto's brain, Sakura wasn't an Uchiha of any kind nor did she have a kekkai genkai that anyone knew about. The demonic aura pouring from Sakura clearly gave the message of pain if Naruto didn't stop with his plan.

"Don't."

"B-But Sakura-chan" he tried to get her to see from his perspective but was quickly cut off.

"**Don't. Do. It.**" she said, her grip around his hand tightening and Naruto quickly yelped out in pain.

"Ow ow alright alright fine! I won't do it!" as soon as the iron grip loosened Naruto quickly pulled his hand in and began to nurse it with light kisses in a futile attempt to ease the pain. Sakura would've followed up with a swift reprimanding but a sudden migraine made her grab at her head.

_…...Body..._

" Wha-...what?"

she heard the fading voice in her head as another sharp jolt forced her to lurch over.

"Sa-...Sakura-chan?" Naruto was quickly by her side, grabbing her shoulders to prevent her from falling further to the ground.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" her face came up and looked at Naruto's with an exhausted look. He was glad her emerald eyes had returned. They were less threatening.

"I...I'm fine Naruto, thanks." She said as she gently rubbed at her temples.

" _What the fuck just happened?! WOAH when did I start saying THAT!?_" she panicked! After a quick slap to the face she straightened up and turned to Naruto.

"_I'll deal with that later._Hey Naruto," she moved closer to him to prevent any wondering ears from listening.

"Have you felt any...different since that fight with Orochimaru?"

"Hmmm no not really. I've felt pretty fine once I got some rest." he smiled with his hands behind his head. Then something dawned upon him.

"Wait! Is he the reason your eyes just turned that freaky pink color?! I'll make him pay for messing with you, Sakura-chan!" she saw a flame ignited in Naruto's eyes, then she bonked him on the head.

"Baka, that's something we need to talk about when we're all together and not so in the open." she blushed lightly and folded her arms.

"But are you sure you're alright? Sasuke saw some sort of seal get slammed onto you." she said as Naruto stiffened. He was lucky she didn't notice his reaction and considered what she said.

" _A seal...Oh crap did he screw with the Fox!?_" Naruto closed his eyes and clapped his hands together, seeping into his own mind to confront the Nine Tailed Beast.

**Naruto's Mindscape, Kyuubi's** **Cage**

Naruto opened his eyes to see himself in the dark and shallow-watered corridors of his mind.

"Man, I really need to do somethin' about this place..." he trotted forward through the water. Hoping to reach some sort of containment area that held the fox.

After banking one more corner, Naruto finally came to an extremely tall iron gate that had a sheet of paper with the exact same design as the one on his stomach. He stared into the dark void of the cages interior. Slowly approaching the iron bars, he called out.

"Oi, Kyuubi...you in there?" His only reply was his own voice echoing throughout the room. He growled as he gripped onto the bars and shouted into the cage

"Damnit you stupid fox! Answer me!" his sixth sense was the only thing that warned him to get away fast! Naruto jumped back as far as he could when an orange paw nearly yanked him into the cage. Naruto landed roughly on his back onto the floor as a red eye made itself visible within the ever growing darkness of the cage.

" **Tch...A perk of being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko I suppose.**" the gigantic orange fox retracted his paw back into his cage with a large toothed smirk.

Naruto was sweating as he smiled. That thing was huge! How did this small seal even contain such a being of that size? Naruto swallowed and stood up, keeping his safe distance from the cage.

" Try to attack me right of the bat, huh? Well Hello to you to kyuubi-teme!" Naruto smiled until a large wave crashed into him and sent him into a wall. Kyuubi pulled his paw back into the cage again.

"**I suggest you watch your mouth when speaking to me, mortal. I could easily end your life**" the fox said as Naruto pushed himself off of the wall.

" Okay then 'Kyuubi-sama', mind telling me what the freaky snake guy did to that seal?" Naruto spoke, brushing off the wave that had slapped him in the face for his sarcastic tone.

" **And why should I tell you? The quicker you die the sooner I'll be out of this hell hole and back into the world.**"

" I dunno. Maybe because I asked nicely?" Naruto shrugged as he stared into the sharp red eyes of the fox. The kyuubi let out a deep chuckle as he stared back at Naruto.

" **You'll have to try harder than that, Kit.**"

" Harder huh?" Naruto performed the cross-shaped hand seal for his favorite jutsu and gathered chakra.

"Alright then! **Kage Bunshin no-**" Naruto noticed the pipes within the room flooding with chakra. Most of them looked fine to him, but he noticed five points connected with the kyuubi cage that released chakra into the room rather than flow into the pipes.

"What the hell?" he walked closer to the cage, the thought of kyuubi attempting to kill him far in the back of his head. He gathered chakra again and watched as the five pipes leaked chakra into the room. He tried his jutsu regardless.

" **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! **(Shadow Clone Technique)" and in a puff of smoke, two clones appeared at Naruto's side and he immediately knew what was wrong. Kyuubi eyed Naruto and nodded.

" **You wanted to create four clones but you've ended up with two.**" Kyuubi watched as Naruto stared at the seal on his stomach.

"What did that Orochimaru guy do?" Naruto asked looking up into the cage.

" **Gogyo Fuin **(Five Elements Seal). **Orochimaru altered the original seal into an odd numbered seal. Placing such a seal upon an even numbered seal causes an imbalance in chakra control.**" Kyuubi explained to Naruto as his tails gestured towards the five disrupted points.

" **Honestly I've witnessed you waste a lot more chakra than this on occasion with you taking your techniques overboard. But even with your large reserves this will take a toll on you sooner than you think.**"

"To create two clones I had to gather chakra for four of them...Will I have to double my chakra for all of them?" Kyuubi rested his chin on his paws and was now somewhat eye level with Naruto.

" **The pattern of the Gogyo Fuin has always been random. If you're lucky, you'll create the perfect amount of clones with the given chakra. Other times some may appear overcharged like your normal Bunshin techniques.**" Kyuubi yawned which made Naruto grimace at the thought of those failure clones.

"Kyuu-san, how do I get this thing off?" Kyuubi's furry brow bent in a questioning manner.

" **Kyuu-san you say?**" Naruto scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously.

"Well, what else can I call you? I don't think Kyuubi is your real name. It defines what you are, but not who..." Kyuubi stared at Naruto and smiled.

" _**You're smarter then you let on, Kit.**_"

" **That will do, for now. You should ask that old hokage of yours about it when you get the chance after this test. In the meantime, practice your chakra control with this seal on. Perhaps you can benefit from it.**"

"Really? How?" Naruto was eager to get in some training, especially if the fox recommended it.

" **I've already told you that the Gogyo Fuin disrupts your chakra control. You figure something out.**"

"Chakra control...maybe tree walking will help!" Kyuubi grinned at Naruto and pushed the boy out of his mindscape.

" **Now get out. I need to rest...**"

**Training Ground #44, Forest of Death**

"And how long did you say he was sitting like that?" Sasuke asked Sakura as they stared at Naruto's still form.

"About three minutes now...and I haven't even gotten to giving him a test." she huffed as Sasuke stroked his chin.

"...At least I know why Shikamaru and Choji wanted to kick him so bad earlier." he smirked as Sakura laughed. As if on cue, Naruto's eyes shot open and he quickly got up from his position.

"About time dobe. Does your brain take that long to perform a full body scan?" Sasuke said as Naruto made his way over to a tall tree.

"Screw you Sasuke, I tried to figure out what was wrong with me." Naruto said as he clapped his hands together and started to gather chakra in his feet. After hearing what he said, Sasuke and Sakura paid attention to what he was doing.

"So what's wrong? And what are you gathering chakra for?" Sakura asked as she watched Naruto manage to make it a quarter way up until he started to slide back towards the ground. Pouring more chakra into his feet, he planted his foot into the tree. His right foot left an indent in the bark and his left hung loosely. He growled as he finished his walk up and made his way back down.

"That Orochimaru guy shot my chakra control to hell that's whats wrong!" He dismounted off of the tree and back onto the rocky ground.

"I thought it was already there in the first place." Sasuke quipped as Naruto pulled his jacket over his head and stuck his tongue out at Sasuke.

A scout from an Amegakure squad watched over Team Seven from deep within the bushes.

"That blue shirted guy has the scroll. If I take him out and grab the scroll before the other two realize what's going on we'll be good to go." he spoke to no one in particular as his hands ghosted towards each other until he felt another source of chakra heading for the new teens.

"Hah, maybe I won't have to deal with them by myself." the rain genin said as his hands returned to his sides and waited to see what was about to unfold.

With Naruto fully dressed and the fire put out, Team Seven was about to get a move on until someone landed a safe distance from them.

"Oh! It's you guys! Whew, am I glad to see some familiar faces." the man with white hair and round glasses said as he stood up from his crouched position and smiled at the team.

"Hey it's that Kabuto guy! What's up buddy?" Naruto began to walk forward until Sasuke's hand stopped him.

"What are you doing all alone out here?" a look of disappointment appeared on Kabuto's face as he readjusted his glasses.

"Don't worry Sasuke, I'm not after anymore scrolls. I've already got both of them." He dug into his pouch and showed team seven both heaven and earth scrolls in his hand.

"Some things happened on the way and my team had to split up. So I'm heading to the tower to meet up with them." Sasuke's gaze never left Kabuto's hand as he returned both scrolls to his hip pouch. He clenched his fist, he really didn't want to end up fighting any fellow konoha ninja, but he'll have to in order to get him and his team through.

"Wait, Kabuto..." the white haired teen turned around.

" Fight me." Kabuto just stared at Sasuke as his faced remained blank.

"Fight?"

"Sorry, but we don't have a choice. This is the only way we'll survive in this forest." Sasuke said as his left leg moved forward and his right hand began to rise. Kabuto smirked as he called out Sasuke's attempt.

"You're lying, Sasuke." he adjusted his glasses again, catching Sasuke's surprise at being read so easily.

"If this test had really made any of you that cold-hearted why would you ask for a one on one challenge? It would've been in your best interest to simply attack me and take my scroll. That's a Ninja." Naruto scratched his head, completely lost on the current subject and Sakura silently agreed with what Kabuto said.

"I don't dislike you guys for not ganging up on me either...How about I show you the path to take? Sounds good?" Kabuto said as they all nodded.

"But I'll tell you as we move, the scent of the food and the sight of smoke with surely bring wild animals and even enemies to the area." His eyes drifted to a spot within the bushes as the rain genin cursed and sped off to regroup with his team. They'll need some serious planning to catch these four off guard.

* * *

Nighttime had long appeared as the group of four cautiously made their way towards the tower. They were glad that they hadn't run into any resistance or traps as yet, but that alone made them rather worried. They were a kilometer away from the tower and had a visual of it from their position high up in the trees.

"Alright, we can see the tower from here. We have to be even more careful from now on." Sakura and Sasuke nodded as Naruto curled up his fist in excitement.

"Okay! Let's Go!" an immediate rustle in the nearby bushes alerted Kabuto, Sakura and Sasuke as Naruto quickly flicked a kunai, impaling whoever was there. The kunai had landed into the head of a giant centipede that was disturbed by Naruto's outburst.

"Mannn, just a centipede..." Naruto frowned and Kabuto wiped a bead of sweat of his forehead with a sigh.

"Ugh! Why is it so big?!" Sakura shivered.

"That's just nasty. Just look at all those legs." Sasuke said as he thought about chucking another kunai at it.

"Naruto-kun..." Kabuto adjusted his glasses and Naruto looked at him with a grunt of attention.

" I'd like it if we avoided any unneeded actions or noises from here on. We'll tip off potential enemies if we're the elephant in the forest. I'm pretty sure they don't have anything fun planned for us so let's move as slowly and safely as possible, alright?" Team seven nodded as Naruto wore an embarrassed blush.

"Right, sorry."

**Sometime Later...**

Tired feet made there way over uprooted trees for what seemed like the tenth time tonight as the crew of genin made there way toward the tower. Sakura was the first to drop down for a rest, her legs felt like they were on fire. No doubt everyone was glad she had stopped, she just felt bad for being the one to do it.

"How long have we been walking? We aren't getting any closer to the tower...How is that even possible..." Kabuto glanced at the tower from his position and agreed with Sakura.

"_ We should've been there by now...unless_" He walked ahead of the group and could only smile at what he saw.

"Guess we ran into that welcoming party sooner than we thought. You guys remember that thing?" He pointed to the giant centipede that Naruto had pinned to a tree.

"No way! What's going on!?" Naruto and Sakura questioned as Sasuke's eyed swiped over the area.

"Genjutsu?"

"Looks like it. They took advantage of our worries and made us walk around in circles. They're watching us..." Kabuto said as he scanned the area with Sasuke until he saw a humanoid figure forming out of a tree. The same figure began to appear out of multiple branches and greenery as the team of four went back to back.

"Tire us out and attack when we're down. Their plan went along smoothly." Sasuke said with a smiling Naruto next to him.

"Hah! This is the perfect handicap to go all out!" He said as his blood began to boil.

"What is this? Are they clones?" Sakura questioned as Naruto rolled his right shoulder.

"If they are, there sure are a lot of them. The entire team must be performing this technique if it's just clones." Kabuto said as one of the figures spoke.

"Hehe, you're nothing but trapped rats!" Naruto rushed the one that spoke and landed a solid haymaker into his stomach!

"_Nice one, Naruto! Maybe I can help as well_." she thought until the rain ninja's body became liquified and Naruto passed through it.

"Woah! What!?" he skidded to a halt on his side and stood up with a slight shake. Another body formed out of the clone Naruto struck and was about to lodge a double edged kunai into Naruto's back until a set of shuriken sped through it's arm.

"Watch it, Naruto! Looks like they can multiply!" Sasuke said with his spinning Sharingan eyes.

" _You can't hide forever with these eyes!_" Sasuke saw the mutated clone throwing the kunai towards him and realized that his body wouldn't respond! Kabuto quickly dived for Sasuke and pushed the boy onto the ground, but not without getting sliced by the kunai.

"_What's going on? My body wont..._" Sakura noticed the curse mark on Sasuke's neck slightly spread out, no further than an inch away from it's source.

"Sasuke-kun, it's spreading..." she helped him up as his hand went up to grab at the mark.

"Damn thing is more trouble than it's worth." he said lowly as Sakura glanced over to Kabuto, inspecting the wound and weapon.

" Kabuto-san got hurt, so are they Shadow Clones or is this all a genjutsu? Which is it?!" Naruto shouted to his team with a kunai in his hand in a reverse grip and ready to strike. He gritted his teeth, seeming so helpless in such a predicament. He shouted as he began to charge at a group of the rain ninjas until Sasuke shouted.

"Don't! They're all illusions!" he panted as some control returned to his body.

"This is their genjutsu..."

"What? But how? Kabuto-san's injury is real." Sakura asked, confused at how fake shinobi created real damage.

"No Sakura, Sasuke's right. The enemy is most likely somewhere within the trees matching their throws with those of the illusions so it would seem like they are attacking." Kabuto clutched the slash in his shoulder, it wasn't bleeding heavily but the throbbing pain was a different story.

"Then how about we find the one's throwing the kunai and kick their asses!" Naruto shouted.

"With this tactic they are completely masking the direction the kunais are coming from and that prevents us from tracking the enemy."

"Their type prefer these kind of attacks, and are most likely weak at taijutsu and any type of close ranged fighting...The real enemy won't reveal themselves until we can no longer move." Naruto growled. The cowards!

"All we can do for now is dodge their attacks. So get ready!" Kabuto said as he returned onto his feet and prepared for the next projectile.

"Alright, if that's their plan I'll beat e'm all on my own!" he formed a seal as Kabuto attempted to stop him.

"Save your chakra Naruto! Attacking them now is pointless!"

"If all of their 'clones' are defeated at once and start to return to normal, the enemy won't be able to throw a kunai without being spotted! **KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"**

* * *

"Your trapped worked perfectly, Naruto!" Sakura said from behind the revealed Amegakure team.

"The hell? How did-" The Ame Genin turned their heads to see the real members of the team behind them, besides Naruto of course.

"Idiots! The shadow clones were nothing but a distraction as I transformed into the whole team!" Naruto said as his 'team' reverted into their clone form.

" _This one kid fought for this long disguised as his own team...No way..._" the amegakure nin was sweating as Naruto stood up, preparing to deliver a piece of his mind to the bastards responsible for his current tired state. He took a step forward when his knees buckled and he fell onto them.

"You've used a lot of chakra Naruto. I'll take it from here." Sasuke said. One of the rain ninjas turned around and raised an arm in defense to cushion the coming strike but didn't expect it to come from the other side. Naruto clocked him so hard he rammed into his own teammates.

"Sorry Sasuke, but I'm getting' tired of you taking the good parts!" Sasuke, Sakura and Kabuto watched on in amazement as Naruto stood up against the three rain genin.

" _Mass Shadow Clones, transforming into three people and it's the fifth day...If this kid masters his chakra usage, he'll be a monster._" Kabuto deducted. He'll have to keep an eye out for him.

The rain team stood up and performed a set of hand seals as their leader glanced into the sky. There was little time left before the exam was over.

"Get a good look at our ninjutsu! It'll be the last thing you'll see! **Ninpou: Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu! **(Ninja Art: Mist Clone)" Naruto hissed

"Damn! More clones?"

"Just normal ones. But there must be a trick, so watch out." Kabuto deducted.

"Heh! I'll just blast e'm in the face until I hit the real one! No problem!" Naruto charge into the army of Mist clones as Sasuke shouted at him for such an idiotic plan. Kabuto sighed as he jumped in to assist Naruto. Sakura glanced at Sasuke, the pain of using his Sharingan evident on his face. She quickly thought of a plan.

"Sasuke, how long do you think you could hold your Sharingan for?" Sasuke returned Sakura's look and panted.

"What're you planning..."

"The same thing you were, it'll hurt but once they're knocked out we can finish the test!" She turned her head towards Naruto and Kabuto, shielding her changing eyes from Sasuke as he nodded.

"Tch. Whatever happened to you and Naruto in this forest is indeed weird, but it's made you better ninja. I've got your back. Go!" Sakura nodded as she dashed off. Sasuke gathered the last bit of chakra he had and activated his Sharingan once again, peering into the squadron of enemies. He howled in pain as the curse mark began to painfully throb on his neck. The cry of pain was enough to distract Naruto as he turned around to see Sasuke by himself.

"What? What happened to Sakura?!" The Ame Nin gladly took the opening as a clone attacked from above. Kabuto dived into Naruto, taking a stab into his calf as he slid across the ground.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun as he saw the real rain team appear out of the ground within the clones' shadow. ' _So that's how they did it!_'

"Sakura! They're underground! Behind Kabuto!" Sakura heard Sasuke and continued to focus on the gathering chakra in her fist. _'Let it all out in a line. Wide enough to hit them all, tight enough to spare Kabuto-san and Naruto!'_

Sakura jumped into action, her fist pulled back as she shouted. It was too late for the ame team as their upper bodies had already fazed through the ground! Sakura's fist landed six inches away from the team but what happened after, they knew they were done. As soon as her fist made contact, the earth shot up into a wave that had immediately slammed into them, breaking a few ribs, an arm and shattering someone's hip as they were launched into the air amongst the dislodged chunks of earth.

"HOLY SHIT!" Naruto shouted as he had shuffled Kabuto out of the way regardless.

Once the dust settled, the remaining, conscious guys of Team Seven and Kabuto stared at Sakura as she panted, her fist still gently pressed against the disrupted earth. She dropped forward onto her elbows as the pain of the curse mark and that insane migraine struck in unison!

"GOD DAMN THIS REALLY HURTS! AHHHHH!"

'_Give...Back...Body...' _The disembodied voice played through her mind again, but more words were able to come through.

"_ G-...Give it back?! Sotogawa-chan!?" _Uchi-Sakura quickly entered her inner world, her original residence. She looked around, not finding a trace of her other half.

" _So...Sotogawa-chan...Where are you?_" a feeling of dread suddenly washed over her as a dark voice answered her call

" _**I'm right hereeee...can't you see meeee...**_" the singsong voice was so close, it sounded like she was right next to her. Uchi-Sakura noticed a long, red-headed and tanned skin figure far off in the distance of the black void of her mind. She tried to focus onto the girl but it made no difference. She rubbed at her eyes and tried again, only to see the girl no less than two feet away from her!

" _Wha- Grk!?" _Uchi-Sakura's protest was quickly cut off as the tanned figure ferociously gripped her throat, restricting any words from leaving the girls mouth. Her eyes opened to reveal the Cerise orbs that Uchi-Sakura had stared into three days ago. Uchi-Sakura began to feel light headed as the lack of oxygen made it's effect evident in her strength to resist. Watching her opponent's conscious drift away with each passing second, the tanned girl smiled.

"_** Yes...just die...let me control my body again!**_"

* * *

" SAKURA!" the combined shouts of Naruto and Sasuke brought Sakura back from her self-execution as she gasped for air. She sat up in a cold sweat, panting as she studied the area she was in. They were currently in the tower within one of the designated rooms for candidate use.

"Wake up! We gotta open up the scrolls!" Naruto said as she tried to rise from the ground but was gently pushed back by Sasuke.

"No, you take it easy. You deserve it after what you did today." she smiled tiredly as her hand rubbed at her head. Sasuke smirked as he looked towards Naruto.

"Let's go Dobe, on three. One...Two...THREE!" Sasuke and Naruto rolled open the scrolls revealing a large kanji surrounded by smaller, more intricate writings.

"Hito?...Jin?...What?" Naruto scratched his head as Sasuke stared the scroll suspiciously. The smoking kanji caught both shinobi off guard as the tossed them onto each other a fair distance away.

"It's a summoning type jutsu?...For what?" and with a giant plume of smoke, Umino Iruka appeared.

"Hey. It's good to see you kids here." He pulled out a large analog stop watch out of his flak jacket and smiled.

"Just in time too!"

**Chunnin Exam, Preliminaries**

The heavily disguised Orochimaru watch the gathered teams below from his spot above the arena. He eyes glared holes into the pink haired girl on Sasuke's team. He really couldn't believe Kabuto when he told her about the girl, that she had survived the first stage of the curse marks effects. Was it because of his decision to remove certain components of the seal? Did this girl actually have some sort of hidden potential?

Orochimaru smiled. What experiment was fun if it didn't bear a few unexpected results anyway? If he liked what he saw he may have some use for her during the invasion.

" _Hmhm, I can always alter the seal to my liking, after all..."_After seeing Kabuto retire from the preliminaries due to exhaustion, Gekkou Hayate, the 'sick' tokubetsu jounin proctor coughed into his hands, gaining the attention of the chunnin hopefuls.

" Is anyone else going to withdraw?" he waited once again as the genin discussed it amongst themselves.

Sakura rubbed the soar seal underneath her bandaged neck. Both Sasuke and herself were in no real condition to continue fighting, especially since the seal reacted to chakra use. She glanced over to Sasuke who was nursing his own seal, the pain becoming more frequent.

"Sasuke-kun, what do you think will happen if we go on like this..." the question startled Sasuke to attention as he looked at Sakura, her hand mimicking his.

"The mark is getting to you as well..." he considered the option to withdraw and retake the exam as Naruto stood there, trying to make sense of the exchange between his teammates.

" _Mark? Just what exactly did Orochimaru do to you guys?"_Naruto wondered as he clenched his fists in anger.

Sasuke's thoughts drifted back to the night of the Uchiha Massacre, his brother standing over his quivering and frail body.

' _Hate me otouto. Use all of that hate...that anger...and face me once you've gotten stronger!' _Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger, his emotions usurping the pain of the seal.

"Do what you want, Sakura. But if this exam will get me closer to my goal, I can deal with the pain." he said as Sakura stared at the boy.

"You're limited to taijutsu only, Sasuke" Sasuke's ears perked up at hearing his predicament from Sakura.

" If you start to use chakra or push your sharingan to activate, the seal will start again. A lot can happen to you once you're stunned like that." Sakura explained, her hand messaging her neck remembering her encounter with her...other half after pushing herself so far to get the heaven scroll. Sasuke gave a small thanks and nodded at her.

"Hey hey! You guys have got to stop leaving me out of the conversation!" Naruto said as he motioned towards the two. They glanced back at him and he placed his fist over his chest.

"Once we get through the prelim, you guys tell me about this 'mark' you keep talking about. Maybe if I'm lucky enough I can beat it out of you, teme." Naruto said as he shook his fist at Sasuke who could only get out a chuckle as the seal throbbed again.

Hayate marked the name of another entrant who forfeited. He eyed the rest of the genins, none of their resolve wavering.

"*cough* Okay...if that's all of those who aren't fit to go on *cough*, let's continue with the preliminary matches. Now behind me, you'll see an electronic score board..."

(Most of the fights are pretty canon...except for this one...)

_'Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino'_

Safe to say, after seeing that little display in the forest earlier, Ino felt like she had swallowed one of the largest rocks ever known to man. She removed herself from the guard rail and began her trek down to the staircase when a large hand stopped her.

"Ino," Choji said, she turned around to face her team, Shikamaru stood right next to Choji. "Be careful..." The chubby boy said and Shikamaru nodded.

"Pfft! Don't worry guys, I've got this in the bag! It's just Sakura after all!" she sweated.

"This isn't the Sakura you know anymore, Ino. If you want to win, you better plan this through..." he added as Ino faked a smile as she waved them off and continued to the center of the arena. She had arrived seconds after Sakura, who was glaring at her seriously. Ino smirked as she returned the stare with equal intensity.

"Never thought I'd have to fight you, _dekorin_." she threw out, hoping to give herself an edge over the girl. Ino watched as Sakura loosened her headband from the center of her head and held it out towards her.

"Take this fight serious from the start, Ino. This isn't over Sasuke..." she tied the ends of the headband behind her head, securing the hitai-ate over her forehead.

Ino's memory flashed back, when Sakura had returned her ribbon.

" _The moment I place this hitai-ate on my forehead...is the time that I won't lose to you as a kunoichi!" _Ino smirked as she removed her forehead protector from her waist and matched Sakura's.

" _An all out battle huh..."  
_  
Once Hayate started the match, both girls immediately dashed towards each other and began exchanging blows. Fists, knees and elbows clashed against one another as Ino and Sakura went at it full force! Violently bumping fists once more, the girls separated and Sakura started a set of hand seals.

" _Bunshin? No, What is she doing?"_Ino thought through gritted teeth as Sakura seemingly vanished out of sight. Ino's momentary shock was enough for Sakura to deliver a high speed kick into the girls back! Sending the platinum blonde skidding against the ground.

" Come on, Ino! If you mistake me for the cry-baby you once knew, you're in for a world of hurt!" Sakura said, resetting into the standard academy stance as Ino rose up from the ground in a crouch. Wiping the dirt from her face, she thought about her current options against this new Sakura.

" Oh! Smart move, Sakura." Kakashi said from his spot against the wall. Naruto turned his head from the fight.

"What move Kakashi-sensei?"

"You saw her perform those hand seals didn't you? It may have looked like she used a supplementary jutsu to vanish into thin air but in reality, she was gathering chakra into her feet to get out of Ino's line of sight. It's an old survival tactic used to distract enemies to get a head start for an escape, but she used it in a completely different manner. It requires a great amount of chakra control to direct the chakra to the feet when swapping through hand seals, but with Sakura's level of control it worked out just fine" he said as Naruto made an 'Oooh' sound.

" _Her chakra reserves must be running low if she imagined a feint like that..._"

"Just how good is Sakura's control, sensei?" Naruto said as Kakashi glanced at his student.

"Well, in just that, she easily surpasses Sasuke. Chakra control has been Sakura's strong point since the beginning," Kakashi said as the sound of clashing fists brought his and Naruto's attention back to the fight.

Ino and Sakura were in a power struggle. Each blocking the others fist and pushing hard to get theirs through. After breaking apart Ino reach for her kunai holster strapped to her right thigh but Sakura was quickly upon her and held her hand.

"Not so fast!" She threw her hand back and slammed it forward into Ino's jaw, sending the girl across the floor once again. Naruto raised his right arm, slapped his bicep with his left hand and howled!

"Woo! Nice one Sakura-chan!"

Ino struggled to her feet as she saw Sakura standing tall, waiting for Ino to charge again. It easily angered Ino to see Sakura barely panting as hard as she was right now. Ino couldn't believe that Sakura was really surpassing her.

"No! There's no way you can be better than me! Anybody but you!" she growled as Sakura smirked.

" Hah! It's not that hard to surpass the person who's been growing her hair and doing her best to look pretty, rather than training!" Sakura saw the irony in this statement, but once it got to Ino it didn't matter.

Ino growled, " Tch! You shouldn't disrespect me like that, Sakura!" she flushed out a kunai and lobbed off a large portion of her ponytail, surprising the members of her team, Sakura and even Kakashi!

"_Damn. She's completely lost it!_" Shikamaru dreaded, realizing that Ino had given Sakura the upper hand. He continue to watch as Ino clutched the hair tightly in her hand before tossing it in Sakura's direction, strands of hair rested around her feet and some managed to float their way behind her.

"I don't need this! I'm going to make you surrender right now!" her hands began a set of seals.

"Wait a...No way! Ino don't be stupid!" Shikamaru's hand shot up to his face in anguish as he watched his teammate gather chakra for her family ninjutsu.

"Asuma-sensei, you don't think Ino would actually try it, do you?" Choji asked, a nervous sweat rolled down the side of his face for his comrade. After seeing Ino perform the last seal and hold it, Asuma followed Shikamaru's exampled and palmed his face.

"She's too far gone into anger...That idiot..."

Sakura eyed her rival, sweat slowly forming on her forehead.

"**Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu**(Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique)..." Sakura said as a shiver made it's way up her back. The thought of Ino invading her mind in it's current state a terrible sight.

" In this situation, it'd be hard for you to hit me with that don't you think? You miss and it's all over Ino."

The platinum blonde smirked, " So? We won't really know until I try, right?!"

Sakura tensed as Ino's hands seemed to lock onto her current position. She shifted her legs open slightly, making her option of evasion easier on command.

" **Shintenshin no Jutsu! **" Ino proclaimed, finally activating her signature technique! After hearing the first syllable Sakura immediately hopped to the side. She watched as Ino slumped to her knees and swiftly landed from her jump.

Slowly rolling her fingers from pinky to index to ensure she still had control, Sakura swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. That was close.

" I told you it was risky Ino..." Sakura said as she heard a trio of sighs. The slight disruption most likely came from her team. Seems like they knew what would happen if Ino missed as well.

Sakura was preparing to lunge at Ino to get the win by submission, until she felt something snaking around her calves.

" What?!" it seemed like strands of Ino's hair had become sentient! Then she noticed the faint blue glow of chakra flowing in a line towards Ino.

" Hoho~ You fell for my trap, Sakura!" Ino said with a slight giddy tone.

"...Y-you didn't..."

" It was all an act." Ino said before placing her foot onto the beginning strand of hair connecting her to Sakura. Her hands began swapping through the set for the Shintenshin again.

" You fell for that trap too easy Sakura. You should know better coming from your **rival **after all." Ino focused her hands onto Sakura.

" It's a special rope composed of my hair and chakra, you're completely immobile, right?" She got her answer when Sakura's eye's shot open in fear.

" I-Ino! Don't do this!" Sakura pleaded only to see Ino smirk mischievously.

" Don't worry Sakura, I'm only going to make you forfeit...maybe."

From the elevated walkway, Kakashi let out a slight laugh at the black mailing implication. " Well played."

" Now, to make you surrender! **Shintenshin no jutsu!**" Ino shouted as she projected her spiritual energy into Sakura with a smile before her body collapsed.

**Sakura's Mind...**

Unaware of Sakura's mental state, Ino looked around the black void.

"Second time I've been here and I still think this is the reason her forehead is so huge!" she joked to herself before getting her priorities straight.

"Right, make Sakura forfeit and I'm onto the finals!" a monitor-like display of Sakura's point of view appeared before her. She now had full control. "Oh yeah~!"

" _**Who's forfeiting?!**_" The mysterious voice made Ino jump away from the display. Seeing a girl standing a few inches from her previous location.

The dark skinned girl stood their in Sakura's attire. Her shoulder length red hair and matching cerise orbs completing the darkened transformation.

" S...Sakura?" Soto-Sakura smiled and clapped her hands together in mock applause.

"_** Ding! And the winner is, Ino Yamanaka! Let's see what her prize is!**_" The only warning Ino got was a sickly, sweet smile and a flash of red as Soto-Sakura slammed her fist into Ino's stomach with as much force as she could muster. Said blow made Ino bend over in immense pain as the wind was literally knocked out of her! Before she could crumple to the ground she was hoisted up painfully by the scruff of her shirt.

Soto-Sakura smiled as she stared at her long-time rival, gasping for air from just one of her attacks.

" _**Thought you really had this fight in the bag didn't you? She tried to warn you~!**_" The happy tone of the dark girl sending a shiver down Ino's back.  
With what little air the blonde could get into her lungs she called out,

" L-Let go!"

" _**Sure. But I'll be letting go of your shattered soul!**_" She said maliciously which made Ino's eye shoot open in shock and absolute fear!

"" You...you wouldn't! You wouldn't kill your-" Before Ino was able to finish her sentence she was lifted off of the ground by her throat.

" _**Why WOULDN'T I? Besides, once you're out of the way their won't be any real competition for Sasuke's love!**_" Soto-Sakura shouted with a dark smile at the end, her free hand now glowing a frightening dark green and ready to strike.  
Ino tried with all her might to get her hands together to perform the release seal but the large amount of chakra resonating from Sakura's poised hand had her shaking! Soto-Sakura let out a terrifying laugh at the trembling girl in her grasp.

" _**Now, DIE!**_"

Ino closed her eyes and screamed in horror as Soto-Sakura's attack flew towards her and struck with a thunderous-clap, but when no pain came she opened her eyes to see this Dark Sakura staring at another girl with absolute malice. Her chakra-powered fist was firmly gripped into the hand of the other participant. Soto-Sakura glared into the eyes of the intruder, their color reflecting her very own. Ino was surprised and oddly, very happy to see the girl that she was fighting in the outer world here! From her view slightly above and behind her rescuer, the jagged lines of her cursed seal seemed to have spread over her face and the entirety of her right arm.

" _**Rrr! Piss off would you!? Once she's dead I'll have Sasuke all to myself!**_" Soto-Sakura roared towards her other half, who could only look at her other side in disgust. Uchi-Sakura's hand gripped the wrist of the offending hand holding tightly onto Ino's throat, and with a push on the right nerve Soto-Sakura had no choice but to release the girl.  
Uchi-Sakura's face took on an angry and displeased look as her grip tightened around her counterparts wrist, causing the other half to wince and bare her teeth, their eyes locking once again.

Ino quickly scooted away from the clashing minds and caught her breath.

" _What is this?! I've never seen someone with two minds let alone the two being polar opposites and fighting one another!_"

" I'm infatuated with Sasuke, yes. But he isn't worth a sacrifice! Especially if said sacrifice is my..." Uchi-Sakura looked back at Ino with an unsure frown, which soon turned into a moderate smile confusing the young Yamanaka girl. She turned back to Soto-Sakura with renewed confidence.

"Uchiha Sasuke isn't worth the life of my **best friend**!" Ino gasped! Did Sakura really still see her as a friend?

Soto-Sakura's eye opened wide in surprise, and that surprise quickly turned into anger! The void of Sakura's mind began to shake as dark green chakra began to rise from Soto-Sakura's figure. Uchi-Sakura pressed harder against the rising strength of her other side.

" _**Fuck you! FUCK! YOU! Sasuke is worth ANYTHING! Especially that fucking pigs life! Fuck the both of you! Once I'm back in control you'll regret saying that shit to me!**_" Soto-Sakura roared on, her aura of chakra growing larger and lashing out at Uchi-Sakura and Ino...mostly Ino.

" Ino! Get out of here!" Uchi-Sakura said through clenched teeth, struggling to hold the darker girl back from tearing Ino a fresh, new asshole.

" Sakura, what's going on?! What happened to you?! Why is your mind like this!?" Ino questioned as she stood up until an aura blast from Soto-Sakura's induced rage sent her flat on her bottom.

" We'll talk later Ino! Just get out!"

" But-"

" INO!" Uchi-Sakura shouted as she glared at Ino. Ino jumped when she saw this Sakura's eyes looking very much like her dark versions.

" Go before she does something we both regret! Please! I promise we'll talk later!" then she smiled,  
" We've got all sorts of things to catch up on, right?" Ino gave a small smile and a nod.

"Yeah...we do..." she pulled her hands together, her fingers straight and positioned through the gaps of the other hand.

" Kai! (Release)"

**In the Outer World...**

Ino had just completed her jutsu as the spectators could only look on to see if she had truly done it. After seeing Ino use that trap the members of Team 10 were now sure of their kunoichi's victory.  
Chouji and Shikamaru shared a smile as the eased away from the guard rail, no longer worried.

" Ino's got this in the bag!" Chouji fist pumped as Shikamaru chuckled at his buddy's antics.

" Oh yeah~!" 'Sakura' said as she slowly raised her hand. Before being able to speak she suddenly stopped, as if something was hindering her.

" Whoa, what's going on?" Chouji said, his confident smirk now gone.

" S...Sakura?" the girl questioned herself as she suddenly lurched forward as if she had been struck in the abdomen.

" What the!?" Shikamaru's hands were now back to gripping the guard rail. Sakura was fighting off Ino's Shintenshin?!

" _Did she use too much chakra or does Sakura have some serious mental defenses?_" Asuma thought as he continued to watch the event unfold.

A horrifying scream followed by an outburst of dark green chakra renewed the attention of all bystanders. They all watched as Sakura's body twist and jerk in pain until black jagged lines began to spread out from the bandages under her neck, covering her face and right arm.

The Hokage and most of the Konoha Jonin knew exactly what was happening to the girl right now, similar things had happened to one Mitarashi Anko after her retrieval some years ago.

Haruno Sakura, had a Cursed Mark...safe to say, all of those aware of the situation had one word running through their mind. I think you know what word that is...

The single jounin sensei from Otogakure stood their with a blank expression on his face. Within his own mind however, was the most sinister, dark and awesome laugh known throughout the history of villainy.

From the ground level spectating zone, tokubetsu jounin Anko was ready to jump in and call the match until Hiruzen stopped her.

" Ho-Hokage-sama!?"

" Do not forget that Ino is within Sakura's mind. Acting now may bring more harm than good to the girl..." he glanced back at Anko who could only grit her teeth and back down.

" _Just what are you thinking, Orochimaru...Targeting Sasuke is one thing, but also marking his teammate..._" Hiruzen looked up to his left at the walkway and eyed the shocked Kakashi and Naruto, the latter seeming like he's seen this before.

" _Marking Naruto-kun would've made more sense, but a normal girl like Sakura...just how much have you changed?_" the Hokage blew a plume of smoke from his pipe and continued to watch the battle.

Ino-Sakura's body moved to an upright kneeling position. Her hands forming a seal Team 10 was familiar with as the seal required to revert the Shintenshin.

" Good, she made it out..." Asuma sighed with a small smile until he heard the exchange between his students.

" Shikamaru..."

" Yeah...it's over for Ino..."

" How do you two know that?" the younger Sarutobi questioned as his students looked back at him.

" We watched Sakura take out the Otogakure team when she had those markings on her body. Ino won't stand a chance now." Chouji said as Shikamaru confirmed his statement with a nod.

" Originally, we thought that she wouldn't be able to do that again anytime soon, seeing as she fell unconscious shortly after the ordeal. Guess we were wrong on that one." Asuma thought about jumping in to get Ino out of there until he felt a familiar genjutsu over him.

" _Do not act just yet, Asuma. We gave Sasuke a chance, we must do the same for the girl. _" It was an illusion of his father standing next to him. He didn't like the idea, but he listened to him.

Ino was never so glad to return to her body. The pain of being slugged in the stomach still so fresh in her mind. She panted, looking over at Sakura's figure, watching the jagged lines recede under the bandages around her neck.

" Hey...are you...'you' over there?" Ino asked, she froze when Sakura raised her head and the pinkish-red eyes were shining brightly at her.

" Yeah, I'm good." Ino released that deep breath she was holding in. Sakura was panting as well, putting that other side to her must have drained her too.

" This is it, Sakura..." she rose from her spot and Sakura followed with a smirk.

" One final move." Ino nodded at her as they both charged at one another at the same (damn) time.

Ino raised her right fist slightly above her head, unconsciously going to return that punch the Inner Sakura gave her to the stomach, but this time to the face. That'd ensure a knock-out!  
Sakura mimicked Ino's movement, her left arm slightly lower and her right hand grabbing at her bicep. Once they were striking distance, Ino launched her fist forward as hard as she could! Sakura's eyes opened up as she spun on the ball of her left foot, feeling the wind of Ino's punch pass the back of her head and neck. She continued her spin and brought her elbow into the side of Ino's head, her right hand over her left fist, pushing it to provide extra power behind the strike!  
Ino slid across the ground and tumbled onto her back. She struggled to prop her upper body up on her elbows, doing her best to focus on Sakura, her vision swimming and turning blurry.

" Darn...you...ugh" she collapsed onto the ground.

Ino was out...after a long, strung out battle, Ino was finally knocked out. Gekkou Hayate, the preliminary proctor, confirmed Ino's current status and proclaimed to the bystanders.

" Winner of the 4th preliminary match, Haruno Sakura!"

" YEAH! WAY TO GO SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto celebrated nearly falling over the guard rail. Sakura rolled her eyes with a light scoff but gave her excited teammate a small smile and a thumbs up. She made her way over to Ino, picked her up, threw Ino's arm over her shoulder and began her way to the stairs to the elevated walkway.  
Seeing Sakura do that made Kakashi smile underneath his mask, his one eye forming a ' U ' shape.

" _You've really grown as well, haven't you, Sakura?_"

After placing Ino against the wall between Team 7 and 10, Sakura plowed down right next to her with a tired sigh. Ino's sensei came over to give her a look over and called the medical team to deal with the small amount of swelling on Ino's head, which Sakura immediately began apologizing for. Asuma chuckled as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry kid, you did good!" he said, which made Sakura smile as she nodded.

" Good? She did great! Did you see that last move she pulled on Ino?! It was simple but oh so cool!" Naruto said as he beamed with team pride!  
Shikamaru was oh-so tempted to smack him in the back of the head, but then he'd start a big fuss over it, Asuma might get involved, it was too troublesome!

After Sakura was done being interrogated by/conversing with Naruto & Lee, Kakashi walked over to her and crouched against the wall. He was about to say something when she spoke.

"Sorry for not telling you, Kakashi-sensei..." he smirked.

"That's a pretty dangerous move, Sakura. Why didn't you tell me both you and Sasuke were marked?" he asked as she raised her head from her knees and looked at her teacher, who was now examining her cerise eyes.

"We wanted to get through the preliminaries. You would've stopped us if we did..."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right!" his patent eye-smile came into play which made Sakura tear-drop.

"Are...are you going to do the same thing you did to Sasuke to me?" she asked, her hand rubbing over her neck.

"Nope!" another eye-smile.

"What? Why not?"

"You may not think it is but your cursed mark is a special case. There's someone else that wants to speak to you on that matter along with Hokage-sama but before that, I think you have someone to talk to right now." as if on cue, Ino began to stir, the medical team had long completed their duty, they probably were just as tired as she was of hearing Lee and Naruto chatter.

"Glad that you decided to join us Ino." Sakura said with a silly smile, her tongue sticking out of her mouth in a teasing manner. Ino chuckled at her...friend as her head took it's place back against the wall.

There was an odd silence between the two as the 5th match, Tenten vs Temari of the Sand was going on.

"...You've gotten really strong Sakura..."

" Sure. But if it wasn't for you," Ino felt Sakura nudge something against her, she looked to see it was her headband. "This flower would've wilted away a long time ago. Thanks for helping her bloom, Ino." Ino smiled brightly, a bit teary-eyed. She took her headband from Sakura and began to tie it around her waist again.

"Next time we fight, I won't lose for sure!" she said as Sakura stuck out her tongue again.

"You wish Ino! Hahaha!" she wrapped an arm around Ino and gave her a hug to which Ino happily returned.

* * *

And that is it for chapter two of 'Motivated by a Curse"!  
Did you guys like it? Spent a bit of extra time making this as long as it needed to be to get it out as fast as I can.

Ahh, I drew Sakura. It's a version before I decided to add the preliminary fight, so I'll leave it to you to guess where it's at in this story. It's pretty obvious really, haha!

tatsumoto. deviantart art/Bachiatari-no-Haruno-Sakura-Ver-2-338423381

(I won't get in trouble for blatantly laying out links like this right? O_O There's a few spaces there, one before' tatsumoto', another before ' deviantart ' and the other before ' .com ')

Here's the Final Exam Line-Up! Didn't need to add it it to the story to waste more time XP:

1) Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji

2) Sabaku no Gaara vs Uchiha Sasuke

3) Sabaku no Kankuro vs Aburame Shino

4) Nara Shikamaru vs Kinuta Dosu

5) Haruno Sakura vs Sabaku no Temari

Slightly altered match ups, I know. I didn't even realize that Shikamaru was originally supposed to fight Dosu! How'd he die anyway? I dont' remember...

All comments are appreciated!

Stay safe you guys!

Sayonara!  
_~ Speed Ke'Dai _


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